Cotton Is King, and Pro-Slavery Arguments: Comprising the Writings of Hammond, Harper, Christy, Stringfellow, Hodge, Bledsoe, and Cartrwright on This Important Subject

A controversial historical document compiling the writings of seven prominent Southern intellectuals from 1854, this volume presents the most systematic defense of American slavery produced before the Civil War. The collection includes arguments from figures like Senator James Hammond, Minister James Horton, and others who marshaled economic, religious, and pseudo-scientific reasoning to justify the institution of slavery on the eve of national crisis. The work emerged in response to growing abolitionist sentiment and attempts to limit slavery's expansion into new territories, framing the peculiar institution as essential to Southern prosperity and social order. While these arguments are now universally recognized as morally repugnant and intellectually bankrupt, this document serves as an essential primary source for understanding the ideology that sustained American slavery and the intellectual architecture of the Confederacy. It remains valuable for scholars and students seeking to comprehend how intelligent people rationalized one of history's greatest atrocities.